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We’re adding a long-time BTB FanPost writer as we prepare for the 2016 season.
Ed note: Greetings! With the season rapidly approaching the BTB front office felt that we needed to tweak the roster a little bit and bring a player up from the practice squad. We’re adding another front-page writer, and you already know him from the FanPosts. He’s been pumping out quality content over there for years, now VAfan will be a front-page writer. Here’s a mini-bio from VAfan. — Dave
Hello everyone! After writing and commenting as a fan on BTB since November 2008, I finally decided to take the plunge and asked to become a front-page writer. After a friendly interview, Dave graciously agreed to promote me. I look forward to this new opportunity to write about the team I’ve rooted for longer than any other — the Dallas Cowboys — on the best Dallas Cowboys blog out there — Blogging the Boys!
Many of you already “know” me by the opinions I’ve expressed here over the years. For example, how I pushed hard for Dallas to rebuild its offensive line so it could control games on offense and punish defenders. One of my favorite tidbits is that in Dallas’s eight Super Bowl years, they’ve had a minimum of three Pro Bowl offensive linemen each time, and more often four or five. That’s how central the offensive line has been to the Cowboys’ success.
But you probably don’t know that much about me, and my history with the Dallas Cowboys, so I will share a few tidbits.
- I’ve never been to Dallas.
- I’ve only been to one live NFL game — Dallas at Washington, Nov. 5, 2006 (the day after my 50th birthday), which Dallas lost in heartbreaking fashion.
- I live in Northern Virginia, just outside the Nation’s Capital, thus I’m the VAfan.
- I also love baseball (the Chicago White Sox), and the way it lends itself to statistical analysis (though the newest stats are just crazy). I mention this because I wish football had better stats.
- Like Dawn Macelli, I’m a lawyer.
- I’ve been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys since the mid-1960s, when the Super Bowl was first played.
I don’t recall the exact year, or exact moment I became a Cowboys fan, given how long it has been. I remember that I started rooting for them for two reasons.
First, I loved their style. Don Meredith to Bullet Bob Hayes was exciting football, and transformed the NFL. Indeed, Hayes is the only man to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. He was the fastest man of his day, and though the joke was his hands were not as fast as his legs, he caught enough bombs for Meredith to lead the NFL in 1965 with 17.1 yards per completion. (By contrast, Tony Romo’s top number was 13.2, in 2006).
Second, I have always loved an underdog, and in 1966 and 1967, the Dallas Cowboys were decidedly underdogs to the Green Bay Packers and their coach Vince Lombardi in back-to-back NFL Championships. (These games were bigger than Super Bowl I or II, which pitted the Packers against the overmatched AFC Champion Raiders and Chiefs.) Both games were heartbreaking losses by the Cowboys, turning on a goal line stand by Green Bay in 1966 and one the Cowboys couldn’t match in the Ice Bowl in 1967.
Even though the Cowboys fell short, I was hooked. It certainly helped that from 1966 to 1985 — 20 consecutive seasons — the Dallas Cowboys, led by Tom Landry, had a winning record every year.
Eight Super Bowl appearances, five Super Bowl wins, 16 NFC (or NFL) Championship games, second highest winning percentage of all time. These are a few of the accomplishments of America’s Team.
This is why I love the Dallas Cowboys. I started rooting for an underdog, and stayed because I was addicted to their excellence.
Unfortunately, for the last 20 seasons — as long a streak as they once had consecutive winning ones — the Cowboys have not even made it to an NFC Championship game, much less the Super Bowl. How can a team that defined excellence in the NFL for three decades, and is the most valuable franchise by a mile, endure such a dry spell? That is one conundrum I’d like to explore.
More importantly, with the best offensive line in football, perhaps the best running game in the NFL, an offense loaded with playmakers, Dak Prescott and Tony Romo at quarterback, and the best kicker in the league, is the Cowboys’ championship dry spell nearing an end? I hope so!!
GO COWBOYS!!!
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